As demand for wireless communication spectrum continues to increase, such as demand associated with applications executing on wireless communication devices (e.g., smart phones), spectrum shortages may occur. Spectrum shortages may detrimentally affect the performance of such applications.
One approach to mitigating such spectrum shortages is to increase the density of spectrum available to wireless communication devices. Spectrum density in a location may be increased by configuring multiple layers, or tiers, of spectrum for wireless communications. For example, within the wireless communication coverage area of a macrocell, one or more other sources of wireless communication spectrum may be defined, such as one or more femtocells, picocells, microcells, remote radio heads, and the like. One or more such sources of wireless communication spectrum may overlap one another, for example within the coverage area of a macrocell.
But as wireless communication spectrum density increases in a location, wireless communication devices within such a location may be subjected to additional sources of interference. Such additional interference may limit the wireless communication bandwidth gains that may be realized with increased spectrum density. Known methods of mitigating interference received at a wireless communication device may not be suitably effective for application in locations where dense, multi-tiered wireless communication spectrum is available.